Briefing: Dyslexia: War of words

An MP caused outrage last week when he described dyslexia, whose sufferers have difficulty in reading and writing, as a myth. What prompted his outburst?

'A CRUEL FICTION'MP attacks what he calls 'the dyslexia industry' Graham Stringer, the Labour MP for Blackley, Greater Manchester, waded into controversy last week when he labelled dyslexia "a cruel fiction". Writing in his local newspaper column, he said it was "time that the dyslexia industry was killed off" and deplored the extra time that dyslexics, who struggle with reading and writing, receive to complete school and university exams. "This reached a pinnacle of absurdity," he wrote, "with a medical student initiating a legal case against the General Medical Council because she believes she's being discriminated against by having to do written exams. I don't know about anybody else but I want my doctors, and, for that matter, engineers, teachers, dentists and police officers, to be able to read and write."